PRODUCT of the WEEK: Indian Fare's Shelf-Stable Madras Lentil

This is a great, simply, affordable dish; Trader Joe's sells it for $1.99 (may vary by area), and I've seen it offered for more at Ralph's, a southern California chain. All natural ingredients--no chemicals, no sugar, no flour. Just tomatoes, onions, lentils, kidney beans, cream, salt, butter, cumin, sunflower oil and red chilies.

It's a little spicy, and you have to like Indian food--but even if you don't, it's great warmed up in the microwave. Delectable!

MENU Mondays: Unbreaded Poppers

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I had some delicious crab-and-cheese-filled jalapeno poppers at a local bar, on Super Bowl Sunday, and it reminded me that there's really no need to bread or batter poppers; you can add hard cheeses, like cheddar or parmesan, or diced mushrooms, and fried, crumbled tempeh, to firm up the filling--usually created with cream cheese or queso fresco base.

Here's a low-fat version from a Spark Recipes contributor, which uses bread crumbs--omit those, and firm up the filling as you like...kitchen almost done for testing of these!

MENU Mondays: Black Olive, Jalapeno and Onion Dip

This is very easy to make and it's very tasty; you can use veggies or water crackers with the dip--tortilla chips, not so much.

Equipment: mixing bowl, skillet, spatula, wooden fork or spoon, knife.

Ingredients: 1 small can sliced black olives, or 3/4 cup diced black olives; 1 small onion, diced and sauteed, 2 garlic cloves, pressed; 2-4 roasted or sauteed, diced jalapeno peppers, 16 oz. sour cream; 1/2 block light cream cheese; paprika, salt, pepper and dill to taste.

Notes: Mix all ingredients together after sauteed veggies have cooled; chill and serve.